A year after moving in she met her now-husband, Alex Martin, 42. In 2012 they decided to get out of the city. East London was in the grips of Olympic fever and Mrs Martin, who had “staircased” her share in the flat up to 50pc, took advantage of rising house prices and sold the property for £260,000.

“I think shared ownership is a great way to get on the housing ladder,” said Mrs Martin. “There’s no way I would have been able to buy a flat without it.

“But to get the most from it, you need to prepare to buy a bigger share as soon as you can afford it to get the biggest gains. Also, do your research into the housing association you’ll be renting from as with rent and service charges it could end up being quite expensive.”

Mrs Martin used her £30,000 gain to put down a deposit on a tiny £250,000 fisherman’s cottage in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. By 2016, Mrs Martin was expecting a baby and the compact cottage was not suitable for a growing family. They sold up for £360,000, benefitting from Leigh’s increasing popularity with London leavers, and moved two miles along the coast to Westcliff-on-Sea, where they spent £350,000 on a four-bedroom 1920s semi with a good garden and plenty of parking.

They chose Westcliff for its relative affordability, good schools, proximity to family, and because Mrs Martin hopes it will also see strong price growth – like her two previous properties. Right now, the family plans to stay put in their house, from which Mrs Martin runs Confident Tiger, a size-inclusive bespoke lingerie company.

‘We didn’t have a survey – which made the house harder to sell’

The market was ultra-hot when Lauren Peacock leaped onto the property ladder, spending £195,000 with her then-boyfriend on a three-bedroom terrace in west Sheffield in the summer of 2007. Although homes locally were going to sealed bids, she managed to get an asking price offer accepted by promising to adopt the vendors’ elderly and frail cat. “They were moving to Australia, so I think that swung it,” she said.

In 2009, she and her boyfriend split up – just after house prices collapsed. She could not afford to pay the mortgage for the property which, by this point, had fallen in value to £190,000. Family members intervened to pay into the property, saving her from a forced sale.